Call me crazy, but for my own mental well-being I’m sticking with the idea that we are a quarter of the way done.

As an added bonus, I should point out the year is flying by at an unprecedented quick pace.

Although, I’m not sure why I’m excited because there will be another school year starting 3 months after this one ends (if all goes well… and I get a good evaluation. If you hear anything to the contrary, please let me know).

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating … the older I get the faster each year seems to go.

There’s probably a formula that could explain this to me, but since I didn’t take physics I may never know.

When I started working in education the older teachers were very recognizable. The dressed differently (usually better), they spent a lot of time discussing the good old days in education (primarily the ability to spank), and they graduated from college when I was struggling to pass kindergarten (that’s a whole different blog… or possibly a series of blogs).

I didn’t really understand the older teachers. They were different in so many ways.

I found them very conservative and slightly grumpy (kind of like… me… now).

As I travel across this great country (yes, one trip to Miami counts as traveling), I get asked two questions.

The first being “Can you work me into one of your blog posts?”

Let me think.

No.

That was kind of harsh. Please let me apologize.

I really should take some time to reconsider.

On second thought. No.

The only chance of getting mentioned is if your name is Buddy the Dog.

He gets special treatment because he gets over the top excited, runs in circles, and whines ever so slightly when I return home from work. Or when I come in from the garage. Or from getting the mail. Or walk out of the bathroom.

It’s the exact same reaction whether he hasn’t seen me for 2 weeks or 2 seconds (I love dogs… and don’t forget to visit his Live Webcam).

Lucky for me, Buddy the Dog doesn’t have an agent (conceivably that could cut into my profit margin).

Of course, if you do something funny or interesting (and love me unconditionally), I could change my mind.

The second question is “How am I allowed to write this blog.” Fair enough.

I always assume this question refers to a superintendent writing a blog and not based on the actual quality of my entries (in other words, what I write stinks).

Either way, it’s an excellent question.

After more than 300 blogs, it almost seems normal to sit down and quickly type my thoughts into a blog.

Almost.

Let’s be honest, there is nothing normal about spending this much time on a blog (or anything else).

By someone else I mean teachers, other administrators, students, or with anyone I come into contact.

I have to be careful that blogging doesn’t affect my day job (the last time I glanced at our checking account… I really need my day job).

But so far, so good.

The longer I do this (blog at slightly below average level) it becomes more and more apparent to me this will be commonplace in the next few years.

I not only think most school administrators will use social media (blogs, Twitter, Plurk, Posterous… and things they haven’t invented yet), but I think it will become the norm.

Communities and school districts will have an expectation that school administrators use social media.

And use it a lot.

It will be as normal as sending out a parent letter or writing up the highlights of a school board meeting (highlights… lowlights… whatever).

Hopefully, administrators of the future (bigger, stronger, faster) will figure out more productive ways to use social media than me.

They will likely spend more time on topics related to improving education and less on their hate of soccer (I’m sorry, but the use of your hands is required if you want to call it a sport).

It’s going to take someone smarter than me (easy enough) to figure out how social media can benefit students and schools 2, 3, or 5 years down the road.

It will become an ally to schools, not the enemy.

Instead of fighting it, administrators need to figure out ways to use it that are beneficial to students and staff.

Presently, we are fighting a war to hold off the use of Twitter, YouTube, blogging, etc. and we are losing.

The sad part is most administrators have only a limited knowledge of social media. Because they don’t fully understand it, they assume it’s silly and a waste of time (my blog is not a good example of something that isn’t silly).

We’ve fought this battle before.

It was against cell phones.

If you haven’t heard, we lost.

How did we lose? Students are carrying little computers around in their pockets and we get upset if they take them out and use them.

I would hate to see the same result from the use… or non-use of social media.

When you think about it, they are quite similar (besides being a pain in my… fine we’ll stick with neck).

Don’t believe me?

Both give you the chance to stay in bed and watch the Price is Right (no offense Mr. Carey, but I miss Bob Barker).

Granted one may cause you to stare into the bottom of the toilet bowl; but other than that, they have a lot in common.

Both may provoke the closing of schools this winter.

Both are covered on the local news in a way that makes you think the world is coming to an end.

I could go on and on, but that’s all I’ve got.

The Crisis of 2009 is the Swine Flu. Of course it’s only “The Crisis” until something more exciting happens. After all you can’t expect CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News to cover happy uplifting stories.

I really believe when something more “entertaining” (sadly, it will likely be horrific or involve rich people stealing our money…) comes along, we will have heard the last of the Swine Flu.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think this is the crisis to end all crises.

There’s no way it’s bigger than Y2K.

Okay, bad example.

Humans like to be scared. We love rumors. We thrive on drama.

Most of all, we fear the unknown.

The Swine Flu is all of these wrapped up into one mysterious disease.

As an added bonus, pigs are gross. Who wants to get sick from something that started with dirty farm animals (I’m hesitant to speak for the group… but not me)?

Long story short, the Swine Flu has caught America’s attention. At least for now.

Who cares that the southern hemisphere is just coming out of their winter (and flu) season and they found the Swine Flu to be less of a big of deal than predicted.

We’re Americans.

And if we say the Swine Flu is going to be huge, it’s going to be HUGE.

At least until something else comes along.

It reminds me of Snow Days (without the shots of course).

Each year, parents and students focus on whether school will be dismissed because of snow. The excitement continues to build as rumors of an impending storm spread like wildfire.

The news media (i.e. those weather people who are almost always wrong) like nothing more than to fan the flames.

For a school administrator the first snow of the year is always the worst.

An inch can cause people to go completely ballistic.

The phone rings off the hook at school just as soon as the first snowflake hits the ground (sometimes days in advance… and I’m not kidding).

Winter Weather Crises come in 5 Stages:

Stage One – the initial news reports (a week in advance) saying we could get between a single flake and 1 inch of light snow.

Stage Two – sheer panic by the general public that if school is not dismissed literally thousands of people will die on the streets in car accidents or by starvation (hence the run on stores for food… which usually means cookies, soda, and renting a movie). Total strangers, without children, repeatedly call the school to say the administrators are idiots (sorry, this has nothing to do with a snowstorm… this is just an average day).

Stage Three – school is cancelled and everyone survives to go sledding or the mall by 10:00 am.

Stage Four – later that same winter (after 8 other storms) an actual blizzard drops 29 inches of snow in 30 minutes (that’s a lot).

Stage Five – parents call the school, begging the administration not to dismiss because they are sick of having their children at home and they need to go to work.

I wonder if the Swine Flu Crisis won’t go much the same way.

Initially everyone is in a panic. This will be especially true when a school district has their first student with Swine Flu.

But what happens when the 7th, or 19th, 52nd, or 1,000th person contracts it?

Will everyone still be as paranoid?

Or will we send our kids to school and go back to work?

Time may prove me wrong. It has before.

I can’t tell you how silly I felt when I locked myself in the basement with beef jerky, bottled water, and 37 People Magazines as I anticipated Y2K.

Excuse me if I don’t trust the government and the news media. But as the president’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said, "Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before."

As I traveled across this country there was a lot of talk about the swine flu. I’m not exactly sure what all the excitement is about because I didn’t see a single pig who looked nauseous.

But, I did see hundreds of humans who are gross.

Schools work very hard to teach students personal cleanliness. This is good.

We then send them home to adults who are disgusting. This is bad.

I noticed that many adults don’t cover their mouths when they cough (use your arm people). They sneeze into their hands and then touch every public object within 200 feet. Worst of all, they use public toilets but not public sinks.

Call me crazy. Call me a germaphobe. Call me paranoid.

But who doesn’t wash their hands after they use the restroom? Especially when they are about to board a plane. The same plane on which I am boarding.

And trapped in.

For 3 hours.

It’s sick when you think about it…

…sitting among 120 perfect strangers who couldn’t find a bottle of Germ-X if you slapped them upside the head with it. I’m no scientist, but I’m guesstimating there had to be at least 18,407 germs on the plane.

There could have been more, but I avoided the restroom.

The germs are everywhere. In the air, on the seats, and stuck to the pages of the airline magazines that are shoved in the back of the seat (next to the barf bags). If that isn’t enough, there is a germ festival taking place all over those “complimentary” blankets.

Do you know why the blankets are free and an extra small bag of pretzels costs 3 dollars?

Because even the airlines realize they can’t rent those disease-laden blankets for a quarter. Trust me, if they could, they would.

The good news is I’ve been back from my trip for 3 whole days and I’m still breathing (without a ventilator).

This has come as a total shock to me.

I was convinced I would have some sort of a disease by now. At the very least a disorder that involves drooling and a facial tick.

Evidently I wasn’t meant to be sick.

I’m as healthy now as when I boarded the Flying Infection Tube (which was delayed 2 hours by the way… even germs aren’t on time).

I’m a lucky man.

At least this time.

My advice… the next time you travel by plane, don’t worry about the landing. Worry about the free blanket.

The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

RULE 3

You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice president with car phone, until you earn both.

RULE 4

If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

RULE 5

Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it OPPORTUNITY.

RULE 6

If you mess up,it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

RULE 7

Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

RULE 8

Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

RULE 9

Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

RULE 10

Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

RULE 11

Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

The rules are taken from the book "Dumbing Down our Kids" by educator Charles Sykes. It is a list of eleven things you did not learn in school and directed at high school and college grads.

In glancing at my blog, I just realized that I haven’t posted in close to a week.

This could be a new record.

Depending on your opinion, this could be a good thing or bad thing (haters).

Since I started blogging in the early 1900’s, I have prided myself on quantity.

As with anything in life, I think showing up is half the battle.

Which in blogging terms (and my own head), I don’t have to be good… I just have to blog a lot.

I’ve seldom gone longer than 3 or 4 days before typing up some more new crap and posting it online.

In my mind, I’m making the world a little dumber one blog at a time. Sure that sounds bad, but I do it for the kids.

Not really, but you have to admit anytime you say “It’s for the kids”, it sounds good.

The reason I haven’t blogged in several days is because I’ve been gone.

To Miami.

And now I’m back.

Sure I could have blogged during my trip, but who wants to type when it’s 75 degrees and sunny?

Blogging is for people north of the Mason-Dixon line. I’m pretty sure that’s why so many Canadians are into technology (have I mentioned they make me nervous… there is no way we can win a snowball fight with them if they decide to attack on a cold and snowy night… I’m just saying…).

Canadians blog and Tweet. A lot.

But honestly, what else are they going to do? How many hockey games can one person watch? And if they get bored with that… Curling? Canadian football?

To get to Miami, I had to fly.

While I don’t hate flying, I’m quite content living my life on land.

In fact, I’m relatively new to this whole climbing aboard a giant metal tube, hurling through the air at 97,000 feet, all the while letting a perfect stranger drive (note to self: it might not be a good thing to see a guy in the airport bar and later see him walk out of the cockpit).

Whenever my plane is taking off or landing, I always say a few Catholic prayers…which is odd, since I’m not Catholic.

The good news is I survived the trip.

And I feel like I have a better understanding of traveling. I can now spot a Cinnabon store from 1,000 feet away.

I also got picked up by a car service. Let’s not kid ourselves; that is cool.

Really cool.

A guy standing in the airport holding up a sign with your name on it.

You have to admit, it beats taking the shuttle.

Plus as an added bonus, my personal driver was named Tony and he’s originally from the South Bronx. I’m not saying he’s in the Witness Relocation Program, but I’m pretty sure he’s in the Witness Relocation Program.

He said if I had any trouble in South Florida to let him know.

I said “What kind of trouble?” He said “Any trouble.”

Again, pretty cool. A car and the ability to have someone whacked.

Life is good.

The car service and the weather were both great.

It was nice to listen to people whine about the cold weather when it was 70 degrees.

I am sorry to say the trip wasn’t totally perfect.

There was an incident (which is good news for someone responsible for cranking out several mediocre to poor blogs a week… but remember “It’s for the kids”)

On the flight down, I was sitting in my aisle seat minding my own business.

Then I made the mistake of all mistakes.

I looked across the aisle to see a young mother and her newborn baby (have to admit… not that excited to see them board the plane, less excited to see them sit right beside me).

What I saw was both disturbing and shocking.

The mother was feeding the baby. And not in a bottle kind of way.

In a way, I’m not comfortable with.

Now before the hateful emails start rolling in, I am not against breastfeeding… I just need some warning.

A simple “Excuse me, you may not want to look this way unexpectedly for the next 20 minutes or so”… would have been nice.

Or maybe a blanket over the baby. Maybe a blanket over everything. Maybe a blanket over anything.

But no.

It was all out there.

I don’t think flying will ever be the same for me.

The next time I see a mother and her baby get on my flight, my first thought won’t be about the possibility of the baby crying.

Best joke I heard on the trip: Don’t worry if one of the engines on your plane fails… the second engine will take you directly to the crash site.

Secondly, I have no business flying halfway across the country by myself (has anyone ever gotten lost in the Atlanta airport and starved to death??). Since the odds of me surviving this travel experience are somewhere between slim and none, I think my focus should be on more important things than writing a blog.

This brings up the question of why I’m unfit to travel by myself.

If you have to ask, it’s obvious you haven’t read very many of my blogs (to summarize… I’m an idiot who doesn’t get out much).

Plus, this allows your new bride to sleep in as you are being a big boy and making your own breakfast.

Toss the tarts into the toaster and head off.

Head off where?

The gas station to buy a newspaper of course.

This was the perfect plan.

Until the toaster jammed.

And started a fire.

But don’t be alarmed. The entire apartment didn’t burn down.

Just the kitchen (can you say kiss the deposit goodbye).

Level 4 – Excuses Stupid.

This level is for those special people who continue to confuse an excuse with a reason.

I don’t have my homework because the dog ate it is an excuse (not Buddy… he only eats shoes).

I don’t have my homework because my mom and dad were taken to the hospital last night after they were involved in an accident is a reason.

While subtle, there is a difference.

Level 3 – I’m in a Meeting Stupid.

Conducting a School Board Meeting using your laptop as a communication device is a good thing. Leaving Yahoo Instant Messenger on so your evil spawn daughter can share her thoughts on what happened that day in 3rd grade is a bad thing.

I’m thankful her language was appropriate that particular night (because trust me… it can get pretty salty).

Someone Twittered I should be using Microsoft Live Writer. Evidently, it is a tool to help post your blogs.

What???

This has been available since… well, since 300 blogs ago!!!!

Is there a reason people have been keeping this secret from me?

Or am I just stupid?

Note from bride, however, no longer new. Luckily we owned 1 kitchen pot. And I mean only 1. It was filled with water in the kitchen sink from the previous night’s meal. I was able to use that pot to extinguish the burning cabinet quickly enough to prevent “much” damage. Therefore, we did receive our deposit back and believe me, we needed it. Do you know how much a first year teacher made in 1995?

Change.Comment by: GD Scott"Change is a big deal. If a school has a School Development Plan (SDP) it will establish as part of this plan Development Goals 1, 2, 3 years out for various elements that describe the school’s..."

ContactComment by: Studer Education"I recently found your blog via Teach Thought and found it to align well with the principles we teach here at Studer Education. I am interested in doing a collaboration with you. At Studer Education,..."

Blogroll

Disclaimer

While this site operates with the knowledge and awareness of the Tuscola CUSD #301 School Board, Tuscola, Illinois, the content and opinions posted here may or may not represent their views personally or collectively, nor does it attempt to represent the official viewpoint of Tuscola CUSD #301 administrators or employees.